My name is Tamara Glushetckaia and I am completing a master’s programme “Rare books and Digital Humanities” at the Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté (France). I have a bachelor’s degree in Library and Information Science from the St. Petersburg State University of Culture. My work experience is as an Information analyst in an international consulting company “M-Brain”, a journalist in the FC “Zenit” and a teacher of graphic design. Also, I have an experience as an intern in the project “Thresors de la Renaissance“ and in the consulting company Inno3. My interests focus on open access and the field of Digital Humanities. In 2018 I participated in a study trip to Germany which was a push for me to take OA movement as a theme of my thesis.
I am glad to present to you now my project in the frame of the master program. My inspiration keeps in several books and articles that I read. The world of auctions is so unknown and basilisk for me, such as books that were printed many years ago.
Under the project I decided to select the topic “The selling process of French books printed in the XVIII and sold at auctions throughout time”. There are multiple reasons why I am interested in the implementation of the project which is related to the auction house. Firstly, whenever we think of auction houses, we immediately think of the economic aspect. If we start searching the literature, periodicals related to auction houses, we will find auction theory or models of auctions.
Secondly, an interesting aspect is to trace and analyse the circulation of books. Usually, people buy books in bookstores or used bookstores, nevertheless other places where books are sold are also worth checking out. Moreover, in the above places we can find new popular books, however, people will not find rarities there. The value of books that were printed centuries ago is often underestimated. Such books were made of costly materials and included illustrations made by various printing techniques by hand. Such books are worth thousands, sometimes millions. Many valuable books transit through auction houses and their destiny is highly linked to this misunderstood marketplace. People close to the world of auctions know that there is a possibility to find a masterpiece. It might complement the collections of books of someone or it can be the way to invest money. Everyone has their own goal. Although sometimes you can find them in used bookstores – not everyone can estimate the value of a book. That is one of the most underlying reasons why I want to discover the books’ auction world.
The final reason for my interest in auctions is conducting low numbers of studies on the sale of rare books. Consequently, there are three main reasons for choosing the research topic related to the auction market. The project is useful for specialists in different fields. Firstly, the project demonstrates trends in the selling process of books. It is important to know the dynamics of sales. Secondly, the project includes the research of the printing world in the 18th century in France. It is interesting for specialists in the field of rare books.
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